Hearses Don’t Tow U-Hauls
The Bible View
In This Issue:
The Horse That Was Established
The President That Believed the Bible
Volume:723
September 12, 2019
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Hearses Don’t Tow U-Hauls
Bill Brinkworth
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:” Matthew 6:19.
Thousands of years ago in Egypt, rich, powerful pharaohs prepared for their burial ahead of their death. They sought and hired some of the wisest mathematicians, architects, masons, and engineers.
Detailed, precise plans were designed. Different locations were examined, and finally the right site was surveyed.
The construction began. Thousands of men and women were engaged in the mammoth task. Many were slaves. Stonecutters were sent to the task to provide one to ten-ton limestone blocks. The stones were slid along cobbled roadways or brought in by barges. It was a grueling task.
Many died from the heat, lack of food, and from tragedies in handling the massive blocks. Each block was transported to the building site. Slowly, with much care, the blocks were put in their precise, designed-for position. Block after block was hoisted by many workers.
It was a tedious work of many, many years. At last, the work was done. The tomb of the Pharaoh was completed. The pyramid was a marvel of precision. Blocks, without mortar, were laid so closely together that not even a matchbook cover could be placed between many of the joints. The Pharaoh looked upon it with his age-dimmed eyes, knowing that one day he would be buried in a hidden room amidst the tons of limestone.
Finally, the Pharaoh died. His corpse was prepared with herbs, ointments, and linen wrappings. His prearranged orders were carried out. The Pharaoh’s body, his faithful servants, wives, pets, and many of his prized possessions were sealed, sometimes alive, with him in the tomb. He believed that in the next life he would be able to enjoy all his earthly treasures.
Thousands of years later, his treasures are still there, if they have not been plundered by thieves or taken away to museums. He found out too late, as will many millions, that no matter the provision, one cannot take anything from this life into the next.
If people have trusted in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for their salvation, they have the promise of Heaven, but what will they find awaiting them there? Their earthly treasures will be left behind where the moths will consume them, will decay by rust, or taken by thieves or relatives.
After a person is saved, he has a responsibility to live and serve the Lord. In doing so, He will be rewarded for what he has done for the Lord. His obedience and much of what he has done for the Lord will be remembered. Much of what he has done here will send everlasting treasures ahead to a heavenly “bank account” where it will be appreciated later in eternity.
“But lay up for your selves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:” Matthew 6:20
If you are saved, have you deposited into that heavenly “account”? You cannot take your treasures with you when you leave this life. The Hearse that drives your body to its resting place will not have a trailer-hitch to take your valuables with you. Send your “treasures” ahead by doing as the Lord shows and commands you now where they will draw heavenly interest rates.
“No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his accounting ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.” — Eliot
Heart Problems
Bill Brinkworth
Today there are many excuses available for mistakes or problems in our life. Psychologists sometimes blame a patient’s problem on environment. Social workers label many behaviors as peer-pressure related. Income, hereditary, age, and race are also some of the popular excuses for any wrongdoing or mistakes.
Sometimes the excuses are legitimate, but many times they are scapegoat excuses for the real source of the problem. The Bible speaks of the “heart” as the origin of many wrongdoings and wickedness.
By “heart,” it is not referring to the blood-pumping organ, but more the center of thoughts, feelings, and our will. Not always are our evil thoughts generated by brain impulses. There is no location where a surgeon could, under dissection, point to and identify as “this is where lying comes from,” or “this organ generates the desire to steal.”
It is this “heart” that Mark speaks of when he writes, “And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? 20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.” Mark 7:18-20.
Things entering into the body cannot make us do wrong unless our “heart” is in such a state as it would allow our bodies to perform the sin. Although many under the influence of drugs and alcohol do wrong things, it is not totally what went into their bloodstream that is at fault. Their “heart” had to be in a tolerant-to-sin state to allow such a thing to happen in the first place. If this were not true, then anyone partaking of alcohol would have the same desire to fight, rape, curse, steal, and commit sin. This, however, does not happen every time booze is swallowed. There is not a pill to force anyone to steal. There is not one bottle on the shelf that will make one sin. It is the already willing, desensitized-to-sin heart, which when normal moral-protecting inhibitions are weakened by the depressing or stimulating effects of the drugs or alcohol, that allows one to sin.
Nothing entering the belly can defile the man. There is not one un-Koshered pickle, third scoop of vanilla ice-cream or anything man puts into his mouth that he can blame as the reason for wrongdoing. Most of the time, no one physically made you do wrong; it was a heart decision. The source of sin generates from man’s own “heart.”
“I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.”
Psalm 119:112
The Horse That Was Established
D. L. Moody
There was a little boy that got saved, and he was full of praise and eagerness to do God’s will. When God converts a person, his heart will be full of joy. That young man was joyful and always found something to praise the Lord about.
His father professed to be a Christian. The boy wondered why his dad did not talk about Christ and did not go down to the church meetings.
One day, as the father was reading the papers, the boy came to him and put his hand on his dad’s shoulder and said, “’Why don’t you praise God? Why don’t you sing about Christ? Why don’t you go down to these meetings that are being held?”
The father opened his eyes, and looked at him and said, gruffly, “I am not carried away with any of those doctrines. I am established.”
A few days later, they were getting a load of wood. They put it on the cart. The father and the boy got on top of the load and tried to get the horse to go. They used the whip, but the horse wouldn’t move. They got off and tried to roll the wagon along, but they could move neither the wagon nor the horse. “I wonder what’s the matter?” said the father.
“He’s established,” replied the boy. You may laugh at that, but that is the way with a good many “Christians.” They are still doing their will and do not seek God’s way very often.
“Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.” Acts 7:51
The President Believed the Bible
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President
Our civilization cannot survive materially, unless it is redeemed spiritually. The Bible is the word of life. I beg that you will read it and find this out for yourself. You will find the things you have wondered about and been troubled about all your life answered in that Book. The more you read it, it will become plain to you what things are worthwhile and what is not, and what things make men happy … When you have read the Bible, you will know that it is the Word of God because you will have found in it the key to your own heart, your happiness, and your duty.
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